Hagen Appointed Food Safety Czar

WASHINGTONPresident Obama on Aug. 19 wielded his executive power to recess appoint Elisabeth Hagen to serve as the USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety. Hagen will now head the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the regulator of meat and poultry products.

Hagen was nominated by Obama in January 2010 and confirmed July 1 by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her nomination then moved on to the full Senate for consideration. According to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recess appointments are never ideal, but  must be viewed as good news.

As I have complained many times, the failure to secure leadership at FSIS was inconsistent with Obamas pledge to improve food safety and made it difficult for FSIS to write new food-safety regulations," he said. Hagen was not a controversial nominee. There was no apparent reason for the Senates feet dragging."

Commenting on the recess appointment, President Obama said: At a time when our nation faces so many pressing challenges, I urge members of the Senate to stop playing politics with our highly qualified nominees, and fulfill their responsibilities of advice and consent. Until they do, I reserve the right to act within my authority to do what is best for the American people. Dr. Hagen is one of four nominees who have waited a total of 303 days for Senate confirmation."

Now that Hagen is the chief food safety czar, she can get FSISs wayward rulemaking agenda back on track. One of her first challenges will be to wrest control of the agencys pending catfish inspection rule from the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which has been reviewing the rule since November 2009. According to Vilsack, the U.S. Trade Representative objects to the rule.

Because of the delay, FSIS has missed a statutory deadline (Dec. 31, 2009) to propose the rule. I have speculated in the past that the lack of leadership has complicated FSISs efforts to advance the rulemaking," Vilsack said. "There is no higher priority at USDA than ensuring that Americans have access to a safe and healthy food supply, and Dr. Hagen's background as the Chief Medical Officer and senior executive within USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service will enable her to successfully lead the effort to develop and execute the agency's scientific and public health agenda, and continue to build the coordination with public health partners at federal, state, and local level needed to achieve the objectives of President Obama's Food Safety Working Group."

Prior to her nomination by President Obama in January 2010, Hagen was USDA's Chief Medical Officer serving as an adviser to USDA mission areas on a wide range of human health issues. Prior to her current post, she was a senior executive at FSIS where she played a key role in developing and executing the agency's scientific and public health agendas. She has been instrumental in building relationships and fostering coordination with food safety and public health partners at the federal, state and local level.